CVE-2023-31124 | AutoTools does not set CARES_RANDOM_FILE during cross compilation

c-ares is an asynchronous resolver library. When cross-compiling c-ares and using the autotools build system, CARES_RANDOM_FILE will not be set, as seen when cross compiling aarch64 android. This will downgrade to using rand() as a fallback which could allow an attacker to take advantage of the lack of entropy by not using a CSPRNG. This issue was patched in version 1.19.1.

Published: 2023-05-25 Last update: 2025-02-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-31124 is rated Low Risk (22.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-31124

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2025-11-21 0.30% 0.07% -0.23%
2 2025-11-18 0.07% 0.30% +0.23%
3 2025-04-15 — 0.07% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-31124

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
3.7 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 1.4 [email protected]
3.7 3.1 LOW
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 1.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-31124

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-31124

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-31124: 1 source package rows (c-ares); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-31124
debian unimportant CVE-2023-31124 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (c-ares), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 3, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-31124
gentoo normal CVE-2023-31124: 1 GLSA(s) (202310-09), 1 atom(s) (net-dns/c-ares); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-31124
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-31124
suse medium CVE-2023-31124 severity moderate: SUSE including 305 source package names (0.3.2-1.2:libcares2-1.19.1-150000.3.23.1, 0.3.32-3.4:libcares2-1.19.1-150000.3.23.1, …), 690 product×package rows across 317 product lines (Container bci/nodejs, Container caasp/v4/cilium, … (317 product lines)): Fixed 538, Known Affected 152. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-31124/
ubuntu negligible CVE-2023-31124 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (c-ares), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, ignored 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-31124

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-31124

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
c-ares_project c-ares < 1.19.1 cpe:2.3:a:c-ares_project:c-ares:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 37 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 38 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-31124

cvelogic Threat Intelligence